Google has launched the redesigned version of its Google News and has reopened the service in Spain on Wednesday, eight years after it shut down.
Redesign
Marking its 20th anniversary, Google News with recent enhancements, lets users add filters, customise topics and fact-check sections. Users would be able to add filters to the local news section from multiple locations.Â
Google News in Spain
Google quoted research that showed news consumption in Spain fell when Google News was shut down in 2014, which led to a ten per cent reduction in traffic to Spanish publishers’ websites. The service was shut down due to a rule forcing the company and other news aggregators to pay publishers for using snippets of their news. Madrid last year transposed European Union copyright rules, revamped in 2020, into legislation, allowing media outlets to negotiate directly with the tech giant.
This prompted Google last year to announce it would re-open Google News in the following year. “Today, on the global 20th anniversary of Google News, and after an almost eight-year hiatus, Google News is returning to Spain,” Fuencisla Clemares, VP – Iberia, Google, said in a blogpost. Google has also planned to launch Google News Showcase — a vehicle for paying news publishers — soon in Spain. The company will also continue to invest in products, programs and funding through the Google News Initiative, it said.
Published on
June 22, 2022
